When the Saturday fourballs of the 2015 Solheim Cup eventually finished on the Sunday morning in Germany the scoreline read 10-6 to Europe but that only told us part of the story.
American rookie Alison Lee, playing with Brittany Lincicome, missed a putt to win the hole at the 17th but then picked up her ball, which was less than two feet past the hole, without the putt having been conceded.
Charley Hull was already heading to the 18th tee but Suzann Pettersen pointed out that the putt hadn't been given and the hole was awarded to Europe. They then won the closing hole and the Americans, led by Juli Inkster, had all the incentive that they needed and they would win eight and a half points in the singles for a one-point victory.
Lee would quickly become tearful before going on to win her singles match while Hull, who was also in tears by the 18th green in the morning, and Pettersen would both lose theirs.
At the time it was put to Pettersen that she might concede the 18th so the match would be halved but she was adamant in her thinking. Come the Monday morning the Norwegian, who would go on to captain Europe in 2023 and 2024, had had a change of heart.
“I’ve never felt more gutted and truly sad about what went down. I am so sorry for not thinking about the bigger picture in the heat of the battle and competition. I was trying my hardest for my team and put the single match and the point that could be earned ahead of sportsmanship and the game of golf itself. I feel like I let my team down and I am sorry," she said on her Instagram.
“To the US team, you guys have a great leader in Juli, who I’ve always looked up to and respect so much. Knowing I need to make things right, I had a face-to-face chat with her before leaving Germany this morning to tell her in person how I really feel about all of this. I wanted her also to know that I am sorry.
“I hope in time the USA team will forgive me and know that I have learned a valuable lesson about what is truly important in this great game of golf, which has given me so much in my life. I wish I could change Sunday for many reasons. Unfortunately I can’t. I want to work hard to earn back your belief in me as someone who plays hard, plays fair and plays the great game of golf the right way.”
USA went on to fight back and win the singles session 8.5 - 3.5 to win the match by a score of 14.5 - 13.5.
On the Sunday evening eight members of the European team would join the US in their celebrations but Pettersen, unsurprisingly, was not one of them.
To this day, it is one of the biggest Solheim Cup controversies in the match's history.
Speaking months after the event captain, Europe's captain Carin Koch admitted that she wished things had been handled differently.
“It’s easy to say now going back, it just happened so fast. If there was any chance to slow it down a bit, discuss what happened, if that could have been possible, that probably would have been the one thing.
“I’m sad that it overshadowed the great moments we had and the great golf we played. That has been overshadowed by one putt on Sunday morning. The only thing we could do is give them the last hole. I did say to Suzann that was an option but she didn’t want to, so I just really had to back my number one player at that stage.”
As for Lee, she later revealed that things could have played out very differently.
"Our rules official had a part to play and could have given me a different option. At the time it felt like we talked forever but I guess it happened really quickly. I didn’t have any other options, I said I thought they had said ’that’s good’ and Suzann said they hadn’t and the rules official said there was a penalty and that we had lost the hole. I wanted to fight it but he looked at me and said ’I’m sorry’ and the rule was we couldn’t get a second opinion.
"I didn’t know about the ruling that I could retake the putt if there was a misunderstanding. We only found out about that until the day was over. It had never happened to me before, I have never picked up a ball early."
